U.S. patent number 4,114,422 [Application Number 05/537,911] was granted by the patent office on 1978-09-19 for method of monitoring diet.
Invention is credited to Donald G. Hutson.
United States Patent |
4,114,422 |
Hutson |
September 19, 1978 |
Method of monitoring diet
Abstract
A method of monitoring diet includes introducing a sample of
aveolar air into a device capable of measuring acetone
quantitatively in amounts at least as small as 0.3 mcgm/l
(microgram per liter); measuring the amount of acetone in the
sample; converting the measurement into immediately recognizable
humanly intelligible form, and displaying the measurement in that
form within a period of no more than five minutes after the sample
is introduced into the device.
Inventors: |
Hutson; Donald G. (Richmond,
CA) |
Family
ID: |
24144623 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/537,911 |
Filed: |
January 2, 1975 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
436/130; 436/132;
436/183; 436/900; 73/23.3; 73/23.35 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G01N
30/02 (20130101); G01N 33/497 (20130101); Y10T
436/204165 (20150115); Y10T 436/202499 (20150115); Y10S
436/90 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
G01N
30/02 (20060101); G01N 33/497 (20060101); G01N
33/483 (20060101); G01N 30/00 (20060101); G01N
031/08 () |
Field of
Search: |
;73/23.1,23
;23/232C,232R,254R,23B |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Other References
Larsson; Acta. Chem. Scand., "Gas Chrom. of Organic Volatiles in
Human Breath and Saliva", 19(1965) pp. 159-164. .
Freund; Biochemical Factors in Alcoholism, "Serial Determinations
of Acetaldehyde and Acetone in Alveolarair", 1967, pp. 89-95. .
Klatt et al.; Chem. Instrumentations; "An Inexpensive Digital
Integrator for Gas Chrom.", 3(4) pp. 327-331 (1972). .
Atkins; "Dr. Atkins' Diet Revolution"; pp. 126-129, 1972..
|
Primary Examiner: Queisser; Richard C.
Assistant Examiner: Kreitman; Stephen A.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Polster, Polster and Lucchesi
Claims
Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired to
be secured by Letters Patent is:
1. The method of determining total body fat of a human subject
comprising introducing a sample of alveolar air from said subject
into a device capable of measuring both acetone and alcohol
quantitatively in amounts at least as small as 1 microgram per
liter and measuring the amount of alcohol and acetone in said
sample to establish a base measure; introducing into said subject
exactly known and predetermined amounts of alcohol and acetone,
permitting said alcohol and acetone to be distributed through the
water and fat of said subject, introducing another sample of
alveolar air from said subject into said measuring device,
measuring the amount of alcohol and acetone in said sample,
determining the ratio of alcohol to acetone attributable to said
introduced amounts of alcohol and acetone in the said alveolar air,
and computing therefrom the total body fat of said subject.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
For a variety of reasons, primarily health, many people in the
United States are concerned with achieving and maintaining a
particular body weight or range of body weights. Most of these
people are concerned about being overweight, and want to reduce. A
few are underweight and want to gain. In some areas, particularly
California, there are weight control clinics, in which large
numbers of patients are checked, counselled, and prescribed for
every day.
One of the chief problems associated with achieving and maintaining
a particular desired weight is the inclination of the dieter to
stray from the diet, an inclination which frequently proves so
strong as to lead the dieter to try to deceive not only the doctor,
but himself. It is standard practice in weight control regimes now
commonly employed to give the dieter a diary and ask that he record
immediately everything that he ingests. In practice, it is found
that, especially among the obese, the dieter's recall in
inaccurate, and he is likely not to be truthful or conscientious in
his keeping of the diary. Furthermore, if a person, even a doctor,
is a friend of the dieter, that person may not always be truthful
either, so as not to embarrass the patient. The dieter frequently
becomes discouraged, and understandably, when he has been faithful
to the diet and still shows a weight gain which may in fact be the
result of water retention. There has been no positive method of
determining when dieters have strayed briefly from their diets,
and, as has been observed, the weight of a person from day to day
varies without any immediate relation to the amount of food he
ingests.
It has long been suspected that free acetone is a physiological
metabolite. It has been known for many years that diabetics have
high levels of blood acetone, and corresponding high levels of
acetone in the breath. In uncontrolled but non-comatose diabetics,
blood acetone levels range to 75mg%, equal to 2,263mcgm/l in the
breath. In 1952 Henderson, Karger and Wrenshall, of the University
of Toronto, published a paper in Diabetes, Volume I, No. 3, in
which they reported among other observations relating to diabetics,
that increases in weight are accompanied by a decrease in acetone
exhalation and decreases in weight, by an increase in acetone
exhalation.
It is believed that ketones are normal intermediates of fat
metabolism, generating small amounts of acetoacetate and 3
hydroxybutyrate. Acetone is formed by the spontaneous and
non-enzymatic decarboxylation of acetoacetate. If there is not
adequate oxaloacetate from carbohydrates to maintain the Krebs
Cycle efficiently, the active acetate from fat is diverted to form
ketone bodies which give rise to increased amounts of free acetone.
The body oxidizes selectively alcohol, carbohydrates and fats, in
that order. Accordingly, the amount of acetone in the blood is a
function of fat metabolism. It will increase with exercise, or a
diet low in carbohydrates. It will decrease with the ingestion of
alcohol or carbohydrates.
The normal acetone content of the blood varies from person to
person, so that some norm must be established for each person, but
once that is established a deviation from that norm will indicate a
deviation in the fat metabolism.
Breath acetone levels from deep lung (aveolar) breath are directly
proportional to the acetone levels in the blood. 330cc of deep lung
air contain the same amount of acetone as 1cc of blood. However,
the amounts involved are so small that there has been no effective
way to use the information which has been suggested by researchers
in the field.
Even when instruments were devised which were able to detect and
measure very small amounts of acetone, variations in breath acetone
might constitute an interesting adjunct to the tools used by the
doctor, but it would not suggest a method of monitoring diet which
would in itself induce compliance with a regimen set for the
dieter.
One of the objects of this invention is to provide a method of
monitoring the diet which involves an accurate measure of fat loss,
which reinforces the dieter's determination, rewarding faithfulness
and discouraging cheating.
Another object is to provide such a method which is simple, safe,
and quick, saving the time of both the dieter and the
physician.
Other objects will become apparent to those skilled in the art in
the light of the following description and accompanying
drawings.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with this invention, generally stated, a method of
monitoring diet is provided by which a dieter is given an accurate
measure of fat loss or gain, is encouraged to maintain the diet
both by the reward of immediately recognized accomplishment and the
punishment of an immediately detected lapse from the diet. The
method includes introducing a sample of aveolar air into a device,
such as a gas chromatograph with hydrogen flame ionization
detector, capable of measuring acetone quantitatively in amounts at
least as small as 0.3 mcgm/l; measuring the amount of acetone in
the sample; converting the measurement into immediately humanly
intelligible form and displaying the measurement in that form
within a period of 5 minutes after the sample is introduced into
the device.
The method of this invention can also include the additional step
of measuring the amount of ethyl alcohol in the sample, converting
that measurement into humanly intelligible form and displaying that
measurement in that form in at least one of time and place
different from the display of the measurement of acetone.
The term "display" is used herein to indicate the presentation of
the measurement in any form which can be grasped immediately,
including read-out, print-out, audible message, or even graph form,
although the particular type of read-out of the preferred
embodiment has distinct advantages.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
In the drawing FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of apparatus
suitable for use in the method of this invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Normal, non-dieting women have a higher breath and blood acetone
level than men, but, as distinguished from diabetics, the breath
acetone level in normal non-dieting persons will in any event vary
only between 0.9mcgm/l and 3.0mcgm/l (in terms of blood levels
0.03mg% to 0.10mg%). In the method of this invention, therefore, it
is necessary to detect and to measure very small amounts of acetone
in the breath. To that end, the preferred measuring instrument is a
gas chromatograph with hydrogen flame ionization detector, such as
is commercially available, under the trademark DIET MONITOR MARK
III, from Cal Detect, Inc., 101 North Nevin Avenue, Richmond,
Calif., the operation of which is substantially the same as that of
the Varian Aerograph Series 1400 gas chromatograph, a rather
complete description of which is found in Varian Aerograph's
publication No. 85-001065-00, printed September, 1969, and
copyrighted 1969 by Varian Aerograph.
In addition, however, as indicated in the drawing FIG. 1, and as in
the Diet Monitor Mark III, the output signal from the detector is
fed to an amplifier-peak detector, hence to an analog to digital
converter, to a memory circuit and thence to a digital
read-out.
A breath sample is introduced to the device by having the person to
be tested blow into a tube connected to the instrument by way of a
sampling mechanism, solenoid operated to take a precisely measured
2cc sample after a certain length of time following the beginning
of the blowing, to ensure that the sample is taken from deep lung
aveolar breath. The sampler can be essentially an automated version
of a kind of device described in the U.S. patent to Molberg et al
U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,087.
The preferred embodiment of method of this invention comprises the
steps of introducing to the gas chromatograph aveolar breath, by
blowing through a tube connected to the sampling device; measuring
quantitatively the amount of acetone in the resulting sample, which
in the preferred embodiment is accomplished by the gas
chromatograph as described; converting the measurement into
immediately humanly intelligible form, which in this embodiment
involves converting the output signal from the chromatograph to
digital form, and displaying the measurement in that form within a
period of five minutes after the sample is introduced into the
device, which, in the preferred embodiment, takes the form of
displaying the numbers generated in the digital converter on a
read-out display large enough and bright enough to enable the
person being tested to read the numbers clearly and immediately.
Preferably, the analog to digital converter is so programmed that
the read-out is expressed in numbers representing blood acetone
level in milligram percent. The absolute numbers are of no
particular significance to the subject, but blood levels expressed
in milligram percent represent standard units to the physician. In
the preferred embodiment, the numbers are displayed as they are
being generated, so that there is a continuous "movement" of
numbers until the peak is reached in approximately forty-five
seconds. This has been found to be important, because it heightens
the excitement generated in the person being tested. It has been
found that, particularly with the movement of numbers, the reaching
of a high number, which indicates that a relatively high amount of
body fat is being "burned," produces a strong feeling of
accomplishment and euphoria, while the attainment of only a low
total has a chastening effect, particularly since it usually
represents a lapse from the prescribed regimen.
The display of the results within a short length of time is also
important to this method. A display within less than a minute, but
with at least fifteen seconds delay is ideal, because it combines a
certain amount of suspense with sufficiently quick results to avoid
impatience or a wandering of attention. It also permits heavy
utilization of the instrument.
To heighten the psychological effect, it is desirable to provide
sensitivity controls for the instrument which will provide at least
two and preferably at least three base levels. Suitable circuitry
for producing amplitudes in multiples of 10, 20 and 30 times, for
example, is standard in the art. Patients are likely either to try
to get a look at other patients' readings or to compare notes. As
has been indicated, the normal level of breath acetone is likely to
vary by a factor of about 30 although the vast majority of "normal"
persons lie in the 0.10mg% to 2.0mg% range, a factor of 20.
Accordingly, those with normally low acetone levels may well be
satisfying the requirements of a diet when the acetone level of
their breath has increased ten times, and still have a breath level
markedly below that of a person with a much higher normal breath
acetone level, who is doing unsatisfactorily. Therefore, it is
desirable to try to produce a read-out of approximately the same
magnitude for the patients with the various magnitudes of normal
acetone levels. If three levels of sensitivity of the instrument
can be used which produce multiplications of 1, 10 and 20, for
example, the doctor can at least provide such a read-out in most
normal patients.
In the preferred embodiment of the method of this invention, still
another step includes measuring, in the same sample, the alcohol
content and displaying it, in digital form, in terms of the blood
alcohol content in milligram percent. The display may be at a
different place from the display of the acetone content, either
immediately adjacent it or at some place remote therefrom, or at a
different time from the display of the acetone content, or
both.
The display of the alcohol content of the blood serves to point up
the effect that drinking has on fat metabolism, to give the
physician an indication of the amount of alcohol being ingested,
and, with respect to one who has not been drinking, affirm that
fact.
A person adhering to a low-carbohydrate diet will ordinarily double
his breath acetone level by the second day of the diet and if
carbohydrates are completely eliminated may increase the level by a
factor of from five to ten in that time. By the third or fourth day
the acetone level of a person on a low-carbohydrate diet is likely
to have increased by a factor of 100 to 200, and will generally
level off, at the high level, by the seventh or eighth day.
Once the subject's stable acetone level has been reached, it is a
simple matter to detect when he goes off his diet. The eating of a
donut, for example, will cause the reading to drop 15 percent
within 3 hours, and to continue to drop until the body has
metabolized all the carbohydrates. The ingestion of alcohol will
also become apparent quickly, because of the preferential
metabolism of the alcohol by the body, and the effects will persist
long enough to be detectable. Thus, if on a weekend, a subject eats
and drinks beyond the limits prescribed, the method of this
invention will betray the lapse if a test is run near the beginning
of the following week.
Preferably, the acetone and alcohol levels are tested daily, with
gaps, if any, only at weekends.
Among the advantages of this invention for the physician who should
be attending a person on a drastically reduced diet are the
following:
1. It provides an almost fool-proof method of determining whether
the patient is staying on the diet.
2. It gives the physician an instrument that can be used to
evaluate slight changes in the patient's diet, such as determining
the effect of refined carbohydrates added to or taken away from the
diet, etc. 3. It gives the physician a psychological advantage
since the patient knows the instrument will tell him when he has
gone off his diet, and the standard excuses such as water
retention, etc. cannot be used.
4. The analysis is quick and simple. The subject blows, an analysis
button is pressed, and the rest is automatic -- 45 seconds later
the acetone reading is computed and displayed on a digital
read-out. The subject's blood alcohol reading is also stored in the
memory for later recall if desired.
5. The method also serves as a screening device to detect diabetes
or other metabolic disorders, and can, or course, be used in the
monitoring of the progress of such disorders.
6. The method may also be used to measure total body water by
having the subject ingest a known amount of alcohol and measuring
the alcohol in the deep lung air, this value being inversely
proportional to the body water content (i.e., alcohol distributes
on basis of the body water).
7. This method also can be used to measure total body fat by giving
the subject a "cocktail" of alcohol and acetone. Alcohol
distributes only in the body water whereas acetone distributes in
both body water and body fat. The alcohol reading is used to
determine the total body water and the ratio of alcohol reading to
acetone reading gives a measure of water to water plus fat. By
using a suitable conversion table, the total body fat may be
determined.
Among the advantages the method gives to the patient are the
following:
1. It allows the patient to see progress within 24 hours after
starting his diet.
2. Any decrease in his acetone reading occurs so quickly when he
goes off his diet that it will normally be possible for him to
decide which meal caused the decrease in the acetone readings.
3. Overall, it teaches him the effect of various foods on his
weight control problem.
4. It teaches him to be more concerned with what he eats rather
than with watching the scale.
As has been indicated, it is desirable to establish the initial
acetone level before a patient is placed on a low-carbohydrate
diet. If the person is normal and has not been on any restricted
diet, the instrument will usually give acetone readings of 0.04 to
0.14mg%. Readings at the low end usually indicate that the patient
has a high carbohydrate intake, is physically inactive, has
recently consumed alcohol, or has low metabolism or faulty
metabolism, and is likely to have more difficulty losing weight
than a person with a higher normal acetone level. Higher readings
indicate that the patient has a moderate carbohydrate intake, is
physically active, has a high basic metabolism, or may be diabetic,
particularly if the readings are greater than 0.30mg%.
A typical actual set of readings of a person on a 1500 calorie diet
is as follows:
______________________________________ Day 1 Before starting diet
.10 mg% (Baseline morning) Diet started in the morning Afternoon
.16 mg% (Baseline for the afternoon was .12 mg% Day 2 Morning .24
Day 3 Morning .38 Day 4 Morning .72 Day 5 Morning 1.85 Day 6
Weekend not Day 7 monitored Day 8 .08 Alcohol consumed on Sunday
Day 9 Back on diet .16 Day 10 .32 Day 11 .59 Day 12 .132 Day 13
.201 ______________________________________
What is significant to the patient and doctor in this and every
case, is not so much the absolute figures but the relation of the
figures to the established base line. As long as the acetone
reading is higher than the normal base line, the patient is
metabolizing fat at a greater rate than he normally does.
Numerous variations in the method of this invention within the
scope of the appended claims will occur to those skilled in the art
in the light of the foregoing disclosure. Merely by way of
illustration, a gas chromatograph with an Argon ionization detector
can be used, although it is not as sensitive as the hydrogen flame
ionization detector. As has been indicated, the display can take
the form of a print-out for a permanent record or even an audible
message. It can be in graph or chart form. However, as has been
explained, the preferred method has numerous advantages. The
display can be in any desired units, the milligram percent being
the preferred units to permit immediate correlation with standard
blood studies in which the contents of the blood are expressed in
terms of milligram percent. Other sampling systems can be used,
although the one described is effective and desirable. These are
merely illustrative.
* * * * *